[ Rigging ]

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Rigging

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This is the start of rigging...basically..

Before anything as usual, images :D

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Screenshots

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This one's on create joints for the body, bones..actually..

Done with the joins and creating IKs for the joints were next, then controllers and then setting the keys.

Keep the parts named always helps while you're trying to set the keys and grouping too.

Testing the rig out :)

Everything seems to work out so far, no problems.

This was one problem i had, when i tried to put constrains on the joints. Apparently i didn't "clean off" the "dirty datas"...in other words, i didn't Freeze Transformations, thus when i constrained the joint, it turned, which is actually wrong :\

More data setting for drivers and such

Constraining each and every finger :)

Here's the example for adding "attributes" which gives you that little option to change values.
So after this, you set more drivers :D

Finally when all that is done :) We move on to painting the weights.
Before that though, we'll do a binding or the skeleton to the skins.
Sort of like putting the skin over the bones and muscles.

Skin -> Bind skin -> Smooth Skin...
(i might have gotten the name wrong but basically it's smooth skinning)

Here are images of painting the weights..

A problem i encounter is, everytime i paint the weight, and switch to the next joint. When i go back to check through the joint again, it doesn't save!! It just goes back to the same weights as if i never touched them. It's so frustrating!!! Arghhh ):

Well, That's all for now..

Cheers,
Elixian

[ Posing Part Two ]

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ElevenRig

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This post is a follow up of the posing done in the previous pose. 

This time we're using a different rig.

There are 3 poses in this one. So Enjoy!

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One - The Smiling Girl

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Here's the image of the Pose we're going to be doing.

Here's my Pose :)

While doing this, i realized that the rig was able to let me stretch or strink the upper and lower arms. However when i tried to do that to match the girl's elbow touching her thighs, it made my rig look out of shape. This was a problem with the rig my teacher told me. He said if i got the flow, meaning looking at the arms it would link to the head, and the head to the next arm. It would be all good :)

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Two - The SNSD Girl

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Here's the reference image :)

Here's my pose :D

Apparently, for this pose i did the full body image on the left. My first few troubles were to get the legs to bend yet not look bend. When i tried to move the rig around, the leg started to bend in a really awkward direction. I also had a little trouble with the hands, seeing that i can't get it to the height of where the model actually placed her hands. The elbow would be pointing far too high if i tried to move the hand to where the model's hands were placed. 

With a little advice from my teacher, I made the rig to do a more grinning like face to copy that of the model in the reference image :)

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Three - The Basketball Boy

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Here's the reference image

My pose :D

 At first, this pose was really easy. All i had to do for the base body was done.
However i had an issue with the weight of the character. To me, the character didn't seem as if he was leaning his weight to the left foot and balancing at the same time.
To solve this one, I got a little help from my teacher to explain the weights of the human body.

We tend to move our hips as we shift our weights from one leg to the other, thus using that concept i twisted the hip a little and bend the character down a little farther. This made the rig to show that it's putting the body's weight on the left feet and balancing at the same time :)

Well, that's all i have for now :))

Look forward to the next post on Rigging :D

Cheers,
Elixian

[ Posing - Mr. Spidey ]

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Mr. Spidey-man

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Ok, I'm back :D With more Art!

This post is about Posing.

First off, I'll have 3 Poses of Spiderman along with their reference pictures.

So on with the pictures :D

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Pose One

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Here's the reference picture for pose one :)

Here's the Post :) 

I didn't manage to really grasp the feel of Spiderman, but the basic pose and flow is there. He does look a little stiff though :\
My teacher challenged us to turn the entire model upside down without using the main controller, however i wasn't able to do so without the model twisting into an awkward...blackhole thing..

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Pose Two

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Here's the reference for Pose 2

This one's found on the word doc we were given :D

Here's the model i made it to :D

Firstly, i wasn't able to got the angle of the body right. Somehow when i try to bend it to the extreme of which the spiderman in the reference image is bending, i get a weird shoulder which i can't exactly copy. However i am happy with the fact i got the legs, almost right :)
The basic pose is there, however, the muscle tense could be more intense if i played more with the controls.

Well~
That's all :)

Look forward to the next post on Posing, yet again~ :D

Cheers,
Elixian

[ Week One : Cow Improvements ]

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Cow - Improvements

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This post is just to update what improvements i've made to my Cow model :) Explanations under each picture!

Enjoy!

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Cow Head

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First off, here are some of the mistakes I've found after completion of my Cow's Head.

A Major Mistake here, There's a straight cut right through one of the eyes. Apparently some of the Vertex weren't merged properly..

So here's one of the problems like i've mentioned above about the vertex.

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How i solved it

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1. Locate the problem area (In vertex mode)

2. Zoom in and find the vertex that's causing the problem

3. Select the 2 un-joined vertex

4. Merge them together using the Merge to Center Tool

Apprently, i found another similar problem as the above picture.

Both of which i found the errors by zooming within the head since the vertex weren't visible from the outside of the head.

I also switched between the smoothness of the model so better pin-point the error.

So i've used the same method of selecting then merging the vertex together.

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Final Improvements

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So after finding out the errors of the head, i managed to solve the problems of half of the head.

Thanks to Maya being so useful, I decided to be "lazy" and delete half the head away.

Of course, deleting the face would goes as follows:

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Steps

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1. Go to Face Mode

2. Select Half the Head using the Front View

3. Hit the Delete Button (yup that's easy, huh?)

Here's what you'll get after you've deleted half the head away.

(Yay! only the nice part of the head is left!)

Finally i did a Mirror Geometry to Duplicate and Merge the two pieces together.

Before doing that though, i filled out the Eyes of the Cow.

Why?

This is because the first time i did it without filling it in, I ended up with the points on the eyes being merged into the center. Not very pretty and not easy to just delete the face away after that. So i filled out the eyes.

After filling it out you simply get a single big piece of face. After the merge, all you have to do is select the face you filled and it's mirror and delete it. It'll go right back to how it use to look like (with the other side of course~)

That's the end of the Head, on to the body!!!

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Cow Body

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Firstly, as usual, an Image of the "errors" or unhappy areas all highlights and labeled :)

The Neck (One) seemed too small out of the body.

The Arms (Two (a) and (b)) were just ... capsules..thingys... With extra edge rings (not very useful)

The Feet (Three) looked plain funny. Too tiny for the giant body it has to support!!

The Body (Four) seemed too boxy.

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Neck

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What i did here was to use Vertex Mode (yes, it's awesome) and the basic move and re-sizing tool to shape the neck to make it more round as well as more wide. A little curve at the tip of the neck seemed nice, so.. yeah.

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The Arm

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I found the Arms a little too low. So i moved it up, as usual used the Basic tools in Vertex Mode to shape the body to make the top a little more tiny and the bottom belly to be bigger. This gives it more exaggeration.

So as usual, I deleted half of the body and mirrored it to make it look similar.

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The Legs

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Like the Arms, it was just like 2 capsule-like-things, so i used the vertex from which made the extra rings (which was previously deemed useless) to shape out the leg.

Honestly, i think it still looks a little awkward, however there's more shape to it. I also enlarged the feet a little and give it a little more shape.

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The Body

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Here's the part where i shaped the "shapeless" body until something more exaggerated and a little more character. I used the Vertex Mode to move the vertex up and down to give the body a nice smooth curve from the side view.

After that, i used the re-sizing tool to either widen the gap between the 2 vertex or make it smaller.

The other thing i did was to shape the back to make it more curvy? and the butt actually looks better. Doesn't stick out too much yet there was the shape.

So that's all for the Body. Moving onto the HANDS~

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Cow Hand

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Above image shows some of the parts i would like to change. The Thumb looking a little flat so are the fingers and the edge of the glove is just...tiny? and boxy.

So after playing around with the vertex and shaping it again, i made the hand (glove) a little nicer. For the edge, i widen it and made it rounder.
For the Fingers and Thumb, I shaped it such that it has some obvious joint parts.

Finally, i shaped the palm of the hand. I pushed the bottom of the palm up and a part of it down to symbolize the bone structure of a human hand a little.

Finally for the thumb i shaped it such that the tip is thinner and the base is wider.

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Reflections

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In this whole improvement stage, i've learned that to make a model look "perfect" takes time and patience to shape it right. And the amount of edge rings and vertex matters when you shape the model. If you're missing one edge ring, you're gonna be missing out a joint.

So, i'll keep trying to improve from here on!! :)

Next update will be about my Character!!

(Once i'm done with her 3/4 View =.=)

Cheers!

Elixian

[ Week One ]

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Cow

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Screenshots of my progress~ I've finished my "Cow" XD

Done in school : Starting out the body :)

Shaping the body using Vertex

Extruding the legs :D

Making of the Neck :)

Extrude the edges, tadah! the Neck!

Finished the Body!! :D

Continued at home, the hand :)

Thumb's all out!

Fingers made and glove shape is done!

Fixing the fingers :)

Final Product of my "Cow"

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Reflection

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For this time, I've learned to switch between allowing my faces to stick together or go separate. The only trouble i have is estimating the size and to change the shape of the body to fit well with the example given. However it was fun :)

Just as before, it's good practice as well as good recap from IN3D!!

That's all for now :)

Cheers,

Elixian